Immediately after tribal council Erik heads starts to spin. Dawn thinks he’s weak because of the vote that just happened but when Jeff rushes in they know it’s something serious. The doctor tends to him. They take his blood pressure and realize both his pressure and pulse is low. In his final assessment the doctor decides to pull Erik from the game. Everyone looks in awe as Erik is hauled off the island.
Now the survivors are down to four. They all express sad pleasantries about the current situation but Cochran is solely thinking about the game. He hatches a plan to pull in Eddie and make Sherri the third. Cochran pulls Eddie aside and shares his plan. Eddie jumps on board seeing the new alliance as a way to make it to the end. Shortly after the survivors learn there will be a reward. Starving, they think they will finally be able to enjoy some much needed food.
At the reward challenge, the survivors must use one hand to steady a balancing board while simultaneously building a house of cards with the other. The first player to successfully get their house of cards to reach the red line wins reward which is an advantage in the immunity challenge.
Sherri is immediately off to a quick start, followed by Cochran, Dawn and Eddie who brings up the rear. Cochran shifts slightly and his house of cards fall down. Dawn jumps in the lead followed by Sherri but Sherri’s house of cards falls. Eddie is still slow but also steady and calm.
Cochran tries to gain momentum but his house of cards falls again. Eddie gains on Dawn but Dawn’s house of cards fall. Eddie takes the lead but after a few seconds his house of cards falls as well. Cochran’s stack falls again while both Dawn and Eddie try to gain on Sherri who now has the lead. Sherri’s stack falls and Dawn tries to take the lead but her stack falls.
Dawn and Eddie fight to get back in the game but their stacks fall yet again. Its Sherri and Cochran left battling it out for the win. Sherri has a bit of a lead but Cochran is right on her tail. Both players are in the same spot but in the last minute Sherri loses her stack allowing Cochran to take the game.
Everyone congratulates Cochran on his win. Sherri, desperate to be in the final three, takes Eddie into the woods and says she wants to go to the end with him and Cochran. She talks about how Dawn played the sympathy card the whole game and is afraid the jury will sway in her favor.
Dawn and Cochran talk in the shelter. Dawn says she’s locked to Cochran and he says the same back. She also says that Sherri is in and the three of them can go to the finals. Dawn says her anxiety is coming back and Cochran comments on Dawn’s constant mood fluctuations make him want to ditch her.
The remaining survivors receive tree mail and learn that they must pay respects to past and fallen players. After the rights of passage are completed they head to their final immunity challenge.
At the immunity challenge, the players must race up a three story tower, untie puzzle pieces and slide down a slide. Once they have all three bags they must build a fire puzzle. First to complete it wins a spot in the final tribal council, where they will plead their case to the jury. Jeff then asks Cochran to read his advantage. In the game he doesn’t have to untie his bags which will allow him to obtain the backs quicker than the other players.
Cochran races up the stairs quickly and comes down just as fast while everyone else is untying their knots. Dawn is the second to obtain the first bag, followed by Eddie. Cochran comes down with his second bag as Sherri makes it down with her first.
Cochran makes his way down the stairs with his third and final bag as Eddie and Dawn come down with their second bag. Cochran begins work on the puzzle while everyone is untying their third bag. Cochran’s lead quickly evaporates as Dawn makes quick work of the puzzle, having connected four pieces. After some time, Cochran catches up to Dawn. Sherri pushes forward and tries to get back in the game while Eddie slowly falls behind. Cochran pulls ahead and wins immunity.
After the immunity challenge, Cochran gloats yet again. Unsure of who to bring as the third, Cochran racks his brain between Eddie and Dawn. Dawn and Cochran go down by the beach to talk. Dawn pleads her case to Cochran and then immediately bursts into tears. Cochran then talks to Eddie in the woods. Eddie pleads his case to Cochran and says he’s the better pick because he hasn’t played a strategic game at all. In the end Cochran must choose to bring a non-strategic but well liked player or a seemingly strategic but sympathy jerking player.
Cochran talks about Erik’s removal from the game. Eddie tells Jeff that in his mind the final three was always Erik, Dawn and Sherri. He also says Erik’s removal gave him a little wiggle room and he hopes he can make it to the end. Cochran then begins to talk about his experience on Survivor. He says last time he played people thought he was worthless and he began to believe it but coming back and winning has boosted his confidence.
Jeff switches the conversation over to Dawn and Eddie, telling them both to state why the other shouldn’t come to the end. Dawn says Eddie shouldn’t come because he is well liked by the tribe simply because he never voted anyone off. Eddie says Dawn is a very strategic player so they could vote for her not because they like her but because she played the game. Jeff asks Sherri about her name not being mentioned. She says she’s done more than most people realize. She says that if brought to the final three she will end up winning.
The Survivors go and vote. Eddie is voted out by a unanimous vote. The next day, the final three talk about each other’s chances. Dawn is happy that she made it to the end and so is Sherri while Cochran is frazzled about how to plead his case to the jury. Later that day the three remaining Survivors make their way to their final tribal council. Once there each player is allowed an opening statement.
Dawn says she is humbled and that her constant emotions came from being duplicitous. She also states that this time around she was in control of her own game and made hard decisions when she had to.
Sherri says that she is a stay at home mom with three children, she’s ran several business and decided coming into Survivor to play the game as if she was running a business. In the middle of her speech she gets flustered and messes up while some jury members laugh. When she composes herself, she says she got in and integrated with everyone well and that’s why she’s sitting at the end.
Cochran begins her speech by saying that this game is a culmination of his 13 years of passion. He says that it’s surreal he is sitting at the end now. He goes on to talk about how he was this socially awkward individual but took the role of a therapist, which inadvertently furthered his chances in the game. He states that when the merge came he saw various threats emerge and struck them before he could be struck. He flat out admits to the jury that he was deceitful but said he had to in order to play the game.
After the opening statements, the jury addresses the remaining players. Malcolm is up first and says Sherri doesn’t deserve to be there. He tells Dawn that she played cold blooded and that she needs to fight for it if she wants anyone’s vote. He asks Cochran what quality he has now that he didn’t have before. Cochran says, while playing the game, he had a heightened sense of insecurity and took out players that had plans that he wasn’t a part of. In his mind it was the only way to stay ahead in the game.
Eddie steps up. He asks Sherri if she believes she was carried to the final three or if she is there because she deserved. She says she wasn’t carried but rather fought hard to be there. The jury laughs. Eddie comments on a previous comment Dawn made about being strong. He tells her that she was weak the whole time and cried ever other second.
Erik talks to Dawn and says he thought they shared something. He admits to being upset after she voted out Brenda and said at that moment she crushed it. Dawn immediately rebuts Erik’s statement and says she was most loyal to Cochran and took out threats to get further in the game. Erik ends that conversation and switches it over to Sherri. He asks Sherri why she believes she was there. Sherri says it’s because she was strong and played her game. Erik quickly says she didn’t do anything in the game. Clearly irritated Sherri snaps back and the two squabble back and forth until Sherri dismisses him.
Mike steps up and says that he hooked up with Dawn and Cochran because he knew they were playing the same game. He then gives Dawn the opportunity to explain why she’s made out to be the villain, while Cochran isn’t. Dawn says it’s because she developed relationships with people to get the information she needed to vote them off. She also turns on Cochran stating that he wouldn’t be at the finals if it weren’t for her because throughout the game he just showed up for the vote. Cochran flips the script and says if he didn’t become Dawn’s therapist she still wouldn’t be in the game.
Reynold steps up and says he hated Dawn from day one. He says she was fake and extremely disingenuous. Dawn nods her head and says the accusations help to see her in a better light and that she can grow from it. He then asks her to describe him in three words. At first she struggles to say anything but then settles on the words chauvinistic, funny and crude. Reynold laughs and sits down.
Andrea address the remaining players and asks Cochran and Dawn how they played the game. Cochran says he played the game as a chameleon and was able to adapt easily and at the right moments. Andrea says she’s proud of Dawn even though everyone else on the jury is slamming her. Andrea also says she understood how she played the game and is still proud about the decisions she made.
Brenda steps up and speaks to Cochran first. She says that while she and Cochran didn’t have a strong bond for a huge portion of the game, they did at the family challenge he took that trust away. Cochran steps in and says he developed a way of separating emotion from the game so he didn’t have that burden. He also said that he took her out before she could take him out.
Brenda then switches to Dawn. She says their bond was extremely strong and is still hurt by Dawn’s vote against her. She then tells everyone about how she helped Dawn find her retainer on the beach. Brenda asks Dawn if she really would have pulled herself from the game if she didn’t find the retainer. Dawn says no and then Brenda asks Dawn to take out her teeth. Initially Dawn refuses but eventually decides to do so. Brenda smiles and says she wanted Dawn to feel what she felt the night her torch was extinguished…heartbreak.
The jury goes to vote and the votes are read back in the states. Cochran receives the first five votes which is enough for him to take home the win. Cochran is the sole Survivor!!